Venezian Beauty!

Canal Shot!

              The last few days in Greece were relaxed and uneventful. I have to say that with alot of the excitement that was going on it was nice to just have those days like that. The 24 hour return trip however did knock alot out of me. this time around there was no one our age to hangout with, talk, or well... in all words there was nothing to do. The only remotely funny thing that happened was I slept on the deck again. This time only in shorts and my ultra thin yet warm sleeping bag! I was fine! Apart from the noise there was not an uncomfortable moment. I woke up around seven and when everyone saw me (especially them smokers huddled and frozen in the corner) everyone gasped and I am sure the Canadian Stereotype was reinforced. Getting into Venice was terrific!

Tom and Me!

              Now Venice is something that I believe is both underrated, and overrated. It is gorgous and striking, and blah blah blah.... All they sell are carnival masks.... Pizza... and Food... (which is great but there is no variation!) I will admit that I have not taken nearly enough pictures or gone to any great muesums. So I am staying an extra day or two! I figure I now decently know my way around, it should be easier and alot more fun. I met Ingemar also and the last two days it has been great to catch up with him. I cannot tell you how great it is to see a familiar face and hangout with a friend. We went to an Opera together (Weird eh??) but it was great and the classical music was awesome! We spent most of our time just touring the city and looking at all the crazy masks as he really wanted to find the perfect one for himself and a friend. Happy to say he did! We also met a group of people (From the US and UK). They are loads of fun! Tom is from the UK, Cate and Jen are from the US. The sights we have seen are gorgous!!

Wow!

        Other then that I made him do a stop over at the Venezian Fire department. I have to say it is one of the coolest I have seen yet! No trucks (Of course) but all boats! We even got to go into one and I am shocked to say my water legs are nearly none existant on such a small craft. Anything a little bit bigger and I am sure I could have done relatively fine. I also found out that in the districts that are inaccessible by boat, they have to carry all of their equipment! Imagine the difficulty in that! Also due to the salt water they use they have special limits and rules on house fires as they do not want to add unnessisary weight to the buildings or damage any paintings, ceramics, or anything that contains value/history. Sheesh! Talk about a difficult fire department to get into!

           As for plans those two days in Venice were suppose to be it, however Ingemar and I decided that we are going to part ways. It was great meeting up but we both have absolute different agendas!

That is it for now :) I will keep you posted. I am currently have a struggling bit in figuring out what Iwill be up to!

Best Easter Ever!!!!!

Greek Porsche!

                 Butchered Lamb and Chicken, Slow roasted with lemon, paprika, garlic, and other delicious spices. Jealous? You should be! It tasted amazing The Greek celebrate Easter through the Orthadox Church’s calendar. This year being unique  along with the last as it is on the same date as the easter we celebrate! (Next year is in July woa right?).  But god am I happy that I was able to experience this. But before I get ahead of myself I will fill you in on what happened on Thursday, as it will be easier to tell of the celebrations in chronological order. 

             Thursday was a typical Zak day. I walked about an hour to find a fire department, found it and stayed there for a few hours as it was WAAY too hot to walk back. The two guys working there were great and a lot of fun to talk to. They loved my visit so much that they put the two patches I traded in a display case, and the picture of us (and the Lakeland college shirt) on their computer desktop. I am really happy to announce I have made yet another great impression on a fire department! The photo is also going to be a bigger memory then most as we had no 4^th person to take the picture. We ended up parking a car in front of the trucks, used it to make a tripod along with a pen and fire-glove. After about 4 attempts at a picture we got one that we were all happy with! (I will show you all the pics in the “anticipated” slideshow when I get back home).  

Band is Marching in!

           That concludes Thursday and brings us into the easter celebrations. I find it really cool that I am able to be in Greece for easter. Greece is one of the most religious countries in Europe. The whole week I have not eaten meat, except for one dinner that had no vegetarian options (Possible one of the reasons why I loved the lamb and chicken so much). Friday was a lets sleep in and go on a hike day. We went to the tallest mountain on the island of Corfu, were a monastery is located. Sadly a giant radio tower was built on top of the monastery (I later asked and it turns out until recent times the monastery was vacant, thus the tower was built). Nonetheless it was still a significant sight with the view and history. You could literally see everything topography wise! It was great! We returned home to eat then all got haircuts! Mine just being a bit shorter then before. The evening of Friday was great as well! We went to a neighbouring village that celebrated the bringing of Christ to the grave through a marching band and mass. The marched up and down the hill several times until there was a small gathering at the church were everyone paid their respects.

Right Before it shatters!

Cooking the Food!

          Saturday was a different story. Up and out of bed early with no time for a small breakfast and headed to Corfu’s Capitol. Mathis, myself and his family found ourselves thrusted into a huge crowd of people! To start several bands marched through the city in honour of Christ. Priests and mobile masses tailed after them along with alot of over excited tourists. After an hour or so the parade stopped and the cities were cleared of people (for the most part) and what has to be one of the coolest traditions started! Everyone went to the roofs and threw clay pots full of water off! I am talking about HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of pots! Flower beds that decorate the city were destroyed! It was both amazing and a serious cause for concern. Now. Way over due here are teh details on my amazing opener. It is traditional greek to not eat meat the week before Easter Sunday. But on easter Sunday you literally have a feast. There were potatoes, salads, fruits, rices, cheeses and a variety of meats. It was terrifc! The only hot plates were that of the lamb and Chicken. Everything else is traditionally served cold or cooled. Preperation of the food was the most fun though. (Even though my part was minor). Aki (My host) Had us skewer the whole animals while he seasoned and prepped them. NOT a pretty sight hahaha, but nonetheless a good experience. The outcome was more than amazing. I ate so much with everyone that I could barely move!

Skewring the Damn Lamb took forever!

     That is all the interesting stuff! Other then that I have been going to the beach like crazy! I is GREAT! i miss you all and I hope everyone is having a grand time! Until next time!

Zak

Having a blast in Greece!

A Molson Would be Good in this Weather

                             Wow! I am sorry that I have not been able to keep you updated over the last couple of days! Like I said previously I do not have any internet! Greece is great! But before I get ahead of myself let me fill you in on the road trip, as well as the ferry trip. Now the 11 hour, 1060 Km road trip to Venice consisted mostly of sleep, the odd stopover at burgerking (Whom by the way is waaay more popular in Europe than Mc Donalds), And passing a fire department that was deemed not important enough for me to see (STFU MATHIS). Other than that it was smooth sleeping and nothing important. The other HUGE journey on this trip was the ferry boat. 

After being tickled to Death!

                 The “luxurious” crossing of the Adriatic Sea took another 24 hours. Now that was not as bad as it sounds. The sea and landscape was beautiful! I was also able to snatch up a new friend on the ferry ride named Jackie! She is from Austria and was a ton of fun! If I cannot figure out what I will be up to I think it might be a good idea to go and visit her J. So, here comes the fun part of the trip. To save money I bought myself the cheapest ticket available... yes I was sleeping on the deck. Now the good ol Canadian in me did not mind the cool wind, or cold night (especially with my sleeping bag) but the Canadian really did mind the never ending fog horn and random lurches that could have tipped my gear overboard. Maybe I will upgrade my ticket on the way back.... maybe....... I think it is also important to mention that Mathis and his family invited me on this trip- and have also provided me with food and a place to stay! Thank you!!!! You have no idea how much it means to me!!!

BEAUTIFUL!

                         Now, I can easily say that Greece is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my entire life. We have only been here two nights and a bit and during that time we have toured the Regions Capitol and gone on a hike. Both are absolutely amazing and all the mythology I have ever learned has literally sprung to life. The Mythological story of Homer and Oddyssee took place on the island and I cannot begin to describe how cool that is!!!! The other but simple thing that has blown my mind is Olive, Lemon, and Orange trees. I have never seen these in my life and they are every were here! You can pick them off and eat them! The lemons are even sweeter then the ones we can buy and you can eat them like oranges! It is really really cool!! I am also trying to format my life as greek as possible for my stay. I have only been havin a biscuit and coffee for breakfast (But the coffee is kept with all the grounded beans! It is really weird but good). I am also not eating any meat as it is custom not to eat it the whole week before Easter! Were we have a whole Lamb that is going to be cooked!!! Talk about awesome! While at the beach and on the Hike we took alot of fun pictures. Here is a little background: Mathis and I met two years ago and have not seen each other since, I find the fact we have such a strong friendship and can hit it off like this is great! It’s going to last forever! Hopefully we can cross paths again! Maybe Mathis can come back to Canada when I sort everything else out with work and future.

 

Cooky Road trip!

                  As for living conditions I am currently wearing shorts and going to the beach at Plus 25 degrees!!! We are staying at Mathis’s friends place. It is literally a villa that has been passed down from generations. It is huge and amazing! I feel very privileged and lucky to be here and experiencing all this. The only thing I have left to report is a very fun fire department! In Corfu town I searched them out and they were extremely happy to have me as a visitor. We exchange patches, got the photo, shared some really fun stories and then they gave me a ride to Mathis and his family! Talk about AWESOME!!! Such a good trip <3

I will put all my pics on facebook to share when I have the time!!!

I hope everyone is having a good one!!!! Until next time!

P.S Here is thee only pic I can find of the Bad taste day.. I am lying up front... It's not a beer it is a coke...

Just had my Grad, In Germany haha

                 WOW is all I can say. This week at Mathis's house has been a blast. Were to begin??? Firstly I will talk about the two Fire departments I have been able to go to here. On our way to visiting the town of Rhienbach (Mathis lives just outside of it) We ran into a fire platoon in training who stopped to take a picture with me! They were all excited to see me and it was great! Rhienbach also only had a volunteer department that I had to schedual an appointment for, however the results were amazing! After the tool they presented me with a standard issue German Fire helmet! It has seen over 15 years of service! I have it packed up at the moment so here is a picture off the internet of it! it is AWESOME!  (It is the newer model however, but close enough)

Two awesome Fire-Medics if I say so myself.

                   The department I went to in Bonn was a 30 minute walk away from the train station... Absolutely hectic to find I say it took me more like an hour. They gave me an amazing tour that lasted a couple of hours. This included their whole cities Dispatch room. You would be surprised on the information they can gather and place, they pretty much have the advanced version of google earth! You would not want a stalker to get ahold of that program! After my entire tour I found out I was running late and they actually took me back to the station in one of their ambulances. The crew was really funny and kept picking on me! Everyone wished me nest of luck getting into college! I cannot wait! I love this proffesion!

         Now about saying I just had my "grad". This whole week with Mathis has been at his school. The great thing about that is the fact I did not have to listen to any boring lectures. I had a week of dressing up in weird costumes (and sadly I do not have pictures yet :( I am still waiting for them to be uploaded on facebook so I can show you!) It was great! The first few days however weere a little hard as people did not know me. It was literally a development period for relationships. The first day I had to dress up as a hiphop artist (I went all out haha). The second day was ommited because we all got into about 13 cars and drove in line across the town to the neighbouring schools to stir up trouble. Then we joined in with several of the cities schools and went to the neighbouring town's school. All got out. Boycotted it with Beers and speakerphones and dancing then got chased away by the police. It was REALLY funnny to watch and participate. The other days were to dress up as poorly as possible! I will not give away what I wore and I promise a picture as soon as I can! But trust me it won the heart of the school!!!!

Dressed More-so like this Guy hahaha

       After that we had a huge party that lasted the entire night. It consisted of a barbacue, a Slapfest (slapping people as hard as ossible on the bum) and huge party in the school gym. Even the teachers attended. It was super fun and I was included in everything. People were great to me! We even had to defend the school from the other school at 3am! Fireworks, eggs and barricades were used!!! It was so much fun! In the morning they had school events and I was brought down to be with the grad class :) I cannot explain how awesome it was to be included!! Tomorrow I leave for Corfu Greece! I am very excited!!! I made a great impression on Mathis's family and they invited me on the trip :) It is going to be legendary!! I am very excited! I do not have any information about it other then no internet except at Cafes. So posting may be a bit difficult!

           I hope that everyone is having a great time! Until next time!



                                           Zak

Moving on!

Ta-Daaaaa!

            I had an absolutely terrific time at Linda's house. I these last couple of days are GREAT examples! I had my own personal tour of the fire department in Essen. It was huge and honestly alot of fun :) I still cannot explain how awesome the international community of Firefighters are. Another department we went to was in Dussledorf, the city that is about 30 mins outside of Essen. At this department I was able to get Linda a short Truck Ride. They also were exremely sorry that they could not get my a patch so they gave me a shirt instead!

Essen's main station!

          Evidently I guess most people are seeing a pattern in my vacation huh? Go to a city, go to firehall, go to a new city, go to a new firehall. It is safe to say that this is the grand idea of the trip though! LOVIN' IT! Another spectacular thing I got to see was the Starlight Express Rollerblade Broadway show... Now alot of people have just read that and have gone ??????????. It is not lame, it is amazing and really awesome. I highly suggest you check it out on Youtube. It is easily one of the highlights of my trip. I had one of the best seats (And I got it for free thanks to Linda's mom taking me with her class). My only regret is I did not understand a single word! However it the story line is quite basic - Guy likes girl -> Girl goes with Macho man -> guy needs to prove himself all with Elvis. Peek your curiosity yet??? HIGHLIGHT of my trip. I was also prilidged enough to meet the Mayor of Essen and attend one of his speeches. I am sure it was really interesting :) I'm kicking myself in the arse for not knowing german!

Starlight Express!

           I also went to my FIRST soccer game today. It was alot more fun then I expected! I went with my Kiwi friend Julian whom I met at a party Linda took me to :). It was absolutely awesome! The game was exciting and Julian's house family bought us food and gave me the team's scarf that they had as a gift! The coolest moment was after the first half the announcer literally said (In German of course): I would like to take this moment to welcome our international guest Zak and Julian from Canada and New Zealand. How cool is that! It was a league game too and the stands were crowded with thousands of people! As well as that I was able to go onto a Rope Climbing course with Linda and her class. This was extremely fun! I got to show of my "skills" haha. Coincedently I also looked like Mario (Blue jeans, red shirt, and my harness looked like trouser straps). Hearing the Germans whistle and sing the mario theme song when ever I did something was hilarious!

At the Game!

                    I am currently at Mathis's house now, which is in Rheinbach, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. I am also currently having alot of fun :). However! I will wait a couple of days to let you absorb this post and it's few, but nice pictures and wait till I have a little more to say about my visit here! I also have a surprise destination that I have just been invited on! Here is a picture, maybe you can guess were it is??? I am STOKED!

 

 

Any Guesses??

Take Care Canada! I will post in a few days!

-Zak

stößchen Deutschland! ~ Cheer's Germany!

Hahaha Frog Crossing!

           Germany is awesome! I cannot explain how great it is to see Linda again. Her family is terrific too and is treating me soo well. I have been to school with Linda twice so far and it is alot of fun. The first time I went I attended Math, English, and Sports. Now, math went by quickly as no one did any work and just goofed off (By no one I mean the guys, Wow... maybe there are similarities between Canada and Germany!!). It was great because I had the oppertunity to make alot of friends and easily! Linda says she is shocked at how easy going everyone is with me. It is great! As for English the teacher asked if I could speak for the whole 90 minute course about what I was doing in Europe, what I have done so far, and about Canada. To keep everything going I awnsered a TON of questions too. As far as I know I gave us Canadians a good rep. Now the funnest (yes that is a word) moment so far with Linda's school and friends is the fact that they allowed me to go on one of those technical rope courses (Were you climb trees and zipline and all that fun stuff). It was great!

Cool Eh!

                   Linda's father took me on a personal tour of Essen. He did an amazing job because I was shocked at how beautiful the country is. My immediate thoughts when you say Germany is a highly industrial country with alot of BMWs and factories. There is a ton to see. The thing I will focus on telling you about is the weird pyramid shaped builing that you could climb for a scenic view of Essen. Check out the photo I am posting! Other than the scenery We ran into a huge soccer rally that turned out to be a firefighting soccer tournament. I was able to snatch a photo with a team and they sent me a patch in the mail to Linda's house. Could it be any awesomer? (another word in my dictionary). Other than that I have toured the old town and major shopping areas here and it is something to see! Very cool blend of old and new.

Essen Volunteer Fire Soccer Team

                   Now the weekend in itself was spectacular. Does anyone know the TV series perfect dinner? It is were you and your friends compete and take turns cooking dinner. Linda and her friends invited me to participate in one of the dinners and it was awesome. We went over to Nikolai's house were we had a traditional Russian style dinner and it was great. We finished the night by going to what I have to say was the most spectacular club in the whole world. It was an old mining building that had been changed into a club. It had 10 rooms that all played different music so you could change styles when ever you wanted and it suited EVERYONE. I had such an amazing blast there and hopefully I can go again before I leave. I wish I could take all you guys there because it is a million times more impressive than I will ever be able to describe.

Germany is awesome! I hope you are all having a great springbreak! Party hard!!!

-Zak

Too...Much...Fun.... :D

P.S All the Warsaw Pics are now on FB... well ... the safe ones...

Hardware Malfunction. End of Switzerland!

Lake Side View

           I know I promised that I was going to post another comment before I got to Germany but I was unable to because of my power cord for the laptop blew up. Now this not only really sucked because of no computer.... but I seem to have had shut all the power down in the house hahahahaha.... Oh dear.... But judging by the fact I am posting this up- yes I have a new cord... sadly when I come back to Canada I am either going to have to replace it or find a better/smaller converter cause this new cord has a fancy european prong on it.

            Anyway, to finish off the adventure in Switzerland. The rest of the visit was still mostly about relaxing. I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate Ruben and his family for taking care of me! The spoiled me with good food and...  let's just conclude with the fact they really spoiled me! I would have to say out of the last few days the major conclusion to my trip lies in my visit to both firehalls in Zug, Zurich and attending School again with Ruben. Now Swiss people are VERY conservative. When i told Ruben and his family I planned on going to the departments the general reaction was that I would have to call and schedual an Appointment. Ruben had schedualed me one for Sunday and it was by far the BIGGEST firedepartment I will ever see. They had about 12 main trucks, countless of others (two floors for vehicles, about 24 bay doors on each floor and most were over crowded with vehicles). Then the amount of equipment was insane! They also spoiled me with patches and a whole bunch of other things (hats etc). 
      

Just a Street View of Zug

         Apparantly it was a shock I was given things too... In Zurich I just walked in the bay doors and I got a 3 hour tour of the built in mueseum and hall. Again spoiled with patches and shirts! When i went to School with Ruben the next day everyone was shocked that I was able to get into the department and come out with more then I went in with. So is it because I am Canadian or is the international fire community that amazing??? A bit of both I presume. The man who gave me a tour was awesome. He participated in an Fire-exchange and worked in New York. He said he would never trade that experiance for anything but sadly every crew member he worked with had died in 9/11. I cannot tell you how bad I felt when he said this because it looked like he was really choked up.

             I also went to school with Ruben again. This time i attended English, Biology, History. It was amazing, truly alot of fun. Mr. Lake (My Biology Teacher) would feel like he had died and gone to heaven with the program here. They have alot of hands on experiments with disecting, and even used fruit flies to show how genotypes and pheno types change! SO COOL!

        I really need to give Ruben and His family a huge thank you for treating me so well! I wish I could have done more for you!!! THANK YOU!

       With that I will conclude the end of Switzerland. I have been in Germany for three days now but I will post this on the blog today and that tomorrow. Just so that I can give it in segments. Mom also told me to get my crap together and post more. Now that I have replaced my Laptop cord I guess I have no excuse... Is having fun an excuse???

Ruben and I posing for a Club?

Anyway Ciao I will post again tomorrow!!!